Malicious and false safety report by guest

[Franco237]

Hi I have been a super host with Airbnb for over a decade with stellar reviews and no incident. Unfortunately, I hosted a tenant that was unaccountably malicious and rude and filed a false safety report after she vacated. This has disrupted my ability to host (her intended sabotage) it has been over a week and Airbnb has shut down my listing and say they are investigating, but have not contacted me with questions.  Is there anything I can do to reverse this damage done? 

[Franco237]

Thank you, Lorina, for your extensive help with this issue.

I actually did respond in a similar fashion to your suggestion. I believe she posted a retaliatory review and never mentioned the housekeeper's entry. It was shocking. She alleged that I entered while she was away on numerous occasions, "always waiting till her car was gone" (she did not explain what might have motivated this entry). She claimed that she could tell from the locks on the door. She said I hovered over her and harassed her continually during her stay, violating her privacy (again, not explaining why I would do such a thing). Obviously, Airbnb saw no proof and restored my listing.

I do believe I know what motivated her retaliation.  When she first moved in. My partner, who is an architect and works in the office above, said he smelled a very strong smell of Marijuana coming from the apartment.  I reached out to her and told her that this had been reported, and I reminded her of the no-smoking policy anywhere on the property. She wrote back furiously, saying it was not her, and said I should have asked rather than accuse her.  There was no accusation whatsoever. I just stated what was reported to me and reminded her of the policy.  From then on, she was very rude in all her dealings with me.  

When she left the apartment, the smell was horrendous. Removing it took a lot of effort.  I have tried to explain this to the Airbnb Superhost customer support. Hopefully, they can see that this squarely fits into the retaliatory review due to the host enforcing house rules. She wanted to smoke weed (with her friends) in my pristine apartment, and the house rules cramped her style.

Now I have a blot on my record that I have to remove. Aargh!

[Lorina14]

@Franco237 

That is probably the true reason why she got upset, the mention of pot/smoking in the unit regardless if it was her or her guest. I hope you mentioned that in the response that there was a report from a tenant upstairs of marijuana and I have a strict no smoking policy. It took x hours to clean and air out the space (probably you needed to use an ozonator, aerus purifier or hitech reactor to get out smells as smoke can permeate everything furniture, bedding, walls, etc).

So sorry for the headache! I hope customer service rules in your favor as she broke house rules. 

[Franco237]

Indeed, I did tell them and it is all there in the messages. It is now absolutely clear to me that this is what happened. I really hope that Airbnb support will see this violation and remove that toxic review.

[Lorina14]

@Franco237 

It seems like it may be the fact that the housekeeper entered while the guest was sleeping. That would feel like a violation of privacy. Like others have mentioned, do you arrange a time/date when the cleaning occurs and is this documented that the guest agreed to this?

Do you have security cameras on your perimeter and is this disclosed in the listing description and on the safety tab on the listing? This is a reason why listings get suspended as it is in violation of Airbnb guidelines (it must be mentioned in the listing the locations of the cameras and in the security section).

@Rebecca can you assist Franco in anyway? For some reason I can’t tag any other community support manager. Community support managers can direct your concern to the right team but they are not customer service.

[Franco237]

 Thanks for trying to assist me with this, Lorina,

The time and date are clearly arranged and communicated. My 65-year-old housekeeper coming in is no violation of privacy by any stretch of the imagination. She also has a schedule that she needs to respect. She knocks and then goes in to work. That is normal.  When it happens in a Hotel, people don't sue them for it!  There are also no security cameras.

[Marie8425]

@Franco237 

I am   just trying to  understand.    Your  rental  includes a regularly  scheduled  house   cleaning   during a guests  stay?

If  the  Guest  was  told   if  no   answer  the  housekeeper would enter  at a specific  time.then  I  would regularly  keep  submitting to  Airbnb   Guest  was  aware

If you  didn't  make it  clear  then I would approach with a new process that ;prevents the  problem

[Franco237]

Hi Marie -

The guest was aware that she had a cleaning that day, and I reminded her via message the day before. It is stipulated in the house rules and the info sheet in the unit. 

Just like any hotel, the housekeeping protocol is to knock several times and, if there is no answer, to come in. They have a schedule. 

That said, I am not even sure what the complaint is because Airbnb will not tell me what the safety violation is. 

I don't believe this is a matter of clarity. This guest's behavior was quite odd, and the tone of her messages was appallingly rude.

[Tatyana96]

  I sympathize all hosts whose accounts were suspended, it seems many had gone through it.
  I was  in similar  situation, guest made up false safety claims & All My listings were suspended without notice, explanation as to why. Same response- specialized team is investigating. I finally got phone call from safety team on day 16, still no explanation as to why my account suspended. As I guessed what it could had possibly been, I explained my side of the story & was told in less than 24hrs they’ll give me response. Not till 8days later, On a day 24 finally safety team unsuspended my Account. I was relived but prior agony & stress … 

[Lorina14]

@Tatyana96 
Do you have security cameras on your property? Do you disclose in the safety tab in your listing and in your description that you have outside cameras in (location) for security ont he property? I heard some people got suspended because they didn’t list the locations to the security cameras/doorbell cameras. Other reasons for a security investigation is if the host entered the space without prior approval, or if the guest felt unsafe (threats from a neighbor, the host or an aggressive dog toward their pet). These are all reasons I have read on past threads. Unfortunately the security team takes a long time to investigate and during this time all hosts listings are suspended. I’ve also read that they only communicate via email and don’t get back to you in a timely manner. It’s frustrating for hosts and being a Superhost doesn’t seem to help according to others.

[Tatyana96]

Lorina

I appreciate your response No, none of your mentioned safety concerns applicable to me. It’s a condo in a condominium. I dont have any security cameras at all. Guest messaged me to cancel prior check in, reason- it was out of his budget. Agreed to meet for check in, to accomodate I offered to lower my payout but he kept lowering his initial offer to impossibly low. To resolve I offered to keep only 1 mo & refund remaining 1.5mo. He wanted 100% refund. I take monthly there. He refused to even check in, left & threatened to delist me. Next thing - all my listings were suspended. And unsuspended on day 24. But I still don’t know why they were suspended 

[Lorina14]

@Tatyana96 

I’m so sorry about that. Especially the fact that you were not told why they delisted and investigated you. I would hope the guest is not allowed on the platform for causing this issue. It was retaliatory and unfair. And you lost 23 days of potential revenue. Usually the security team lets you know what the reported issue was at the end of the investigation. I don’t know why they wouldn’t allow hosts to respond to the accusations or provide their side of the story.

@Rebecca what exactly is the security team protocol if a guest reports a safety concern? How is it handled if the concern was in fact a retaliation against the host for the guest not getting their way?

[Franco237]

Thank you, Tatyana. While I am sorry this also happened to you, it gives me hope that I might get my listing back